Since his return to popular music it’s been Justin Timberlake’s world, and we’re all bearing witness. It’s been a wild ride for the singer as well, who went from a six year hiatus to omnipresence in a matter of weeks. During a recent phone in with Booker of Los Angeles’ 97.1, J.T. explained what took him so long and he shared an entertaining anecdote explaining why he said, “Get out your seat, Hov,” prior to Jay-Z’s verse on “Suit & Tie.”

“You know what it is, man? This album, I’ve been working on it for a little under a year. I just kind of keep it to myself until I feel like, you know, it’s ready to come out,” said the Memphis singer, who cited the difficulty of following up an album as successful as FutureSex/LoveSounds.

“‘HotBack’ [was] lightning in a bottle. Trying to put out a record that has an impact like that. It really is lightning in a bottle. I just hope people like the record. It’s definitely a little bit of a departure, but kind of like you pointed out, my second album was a departure from my first album,” he explained. “At the end of the day, it’s just music. You try to go in and not over-think it and just make something that feels honest.”

The conversation segued into his current smash “Suit & Tie,” and his iconic line “Get Out Your Seat, Hov.” To listeners, Timberlake’s words sound like the grand entrance for the Brooklyn MC, but it was actually a inside joke from their studio session.

“I had kind of finished the verses and I was going in to record them and he was kind of sitting in the room working, kind of freestyling to himself. And then he came up with a line he really liked and he jumped out of his seat and he said, ‘Uh oh! Get out of that seat, Hov.’ And I just thought it was so funny. It made me laugh. I was standing right beside him when he did it and so I just put it on the record, more or less as a joke to him.”

Justin Timberlake likened his studio experience with Hova to Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the Rat Pack.

“Not to compare ourselves to those guys, but just the fun that they had. I was picturing like, being at the Sands in Vegas and saying like, ‘Oh, Jay-Z’s in the house tonight. Uh, let’s have him come up and do a number. Why don’t you go ahead and get out of your seat, Hov?’ That’s more or less where it came from.”